Dash-foot and toe-rail support for vehicles.



PATENTED JULY 10, 1906.

P. E. EBRENZ. DASH FOOT AND TOE RAIL SUPPORT FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.23. 1906.

@677, I fzi Z iii 4L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP E. EBRENZ, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN DEERE PLOIVCOMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A OOPARTNERSHIP.

DASH-FOOT AND TOE-RAIL SUPPORT FOR VEHICLES- Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented July 10, 1906.

Application filed October 23,1905. Serial No. 283,926.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP E. EBRENZ, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Dash-Foot Members and Toe-RailSupports for Vehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the ings,'forming part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to a device for attaching dashes to the bodies ofvehicles, such as buggies and carriages, and for supporting thetoe-rails.

One of the objects of my improvement is to provide a device of thecharacter named of such construction that the dash of the vehicle isfirmly and rigidly connectedto the vehicle-body and braced to resist anystrain to which it may be subjected.

Another object is to provide for the rigid support of the toe-rail bysecuring it to the dash-foot members, which are in turn fastened to boththe side sills and forward corner-posts of the vehicle-body.

Figure I is a perspective view of part of a frame of a vehicle-body withmy improve ment shown applied thereto. Fig. II is an enlargedperspective View of one of the front corners of a vehicle-body and aportion of the dash to be applied thereto shown separated from saidbody. Fig. III is an enlarged vertical section taken through the jointof one of my brackets. Fig. IV is a side elevation of a modification ofmy improvement.

A designates the body of a vehicle having side sills B, a forwardcross-sill O, and corner posts D.

1 designates foot members of brackets having their feet 2 secured to theside vehiclebody sills B by screws 8 or other suitable means offastening. The feet of these foot bracket members are seated upon theside sills remote from the vehicle-body front cornerposts, and themembers extend upwardly from their feet at an angle to said cornerpoststo points 4 and vertically from the points 4 and are secured to thecorner-posts by bolts 5 or other suitable means of fastening. By thisconstruction and arrangement of the bracket foot members they are causedto efficiently connect the front corner-posts to the side sills of thevehicle-body and resist accompanying drawstrain against said posts. Thefoot members terminate at their upper ends in socketheads 6, in whichthe cavities 7 are preferably circular. The cavity in each socketheadextends inwardly from the front end of the head, and in each headbetween the base of the socket-cavity and the rear side of thesocket-head is a bolt-hole 8.

E designates the dash of the vehicle, which may be of any common form.

9 represents dash bracket members ar ranged parallel with the dash invertical lines and which are secured to the frame of the dash at theirupper ends intermediate of the bottom and top of the dash and atapproximately the vertical center of the dash by bolts 10. Each dashbracket member 9 is provided with a stem 11 extending rearwardly fromits lower end and adapted to seat in the socket-cavity 7 of thecorresponding foot-bracket-member socket-head 6. In each of the stems 11is a longitudinally-extending bolt-hole 12.

13 represents bolts which pass through the bolt-holes 12 and 8 in thedash-bracket-member stems and foot-bracket-member socketheads, as seenin Fig. III, whereby said parts are detachably united to provide fortheir assemblage and connect the dash to the vehicle-body or permit ofthe disconnection of the dash from the body. The bolts 13 pass throughthe lower seen in Fig. III.

It will be seen that by the construction of the dash-support asdescribed, in which the dash bracket members 9 are arranged parallelwith the dash in vertical lines and secured to the dash at both itsbottom and at points intermediate between the bottom and top of thedash, said bracket members serve to efliciently brace the dash againstlateral movement and resist all ordinary strain that may be exertedthereagainst, such as by a person pressing against it in entering orleaving the vehicle and using it as a handhold, as is commonly done.

14. designates a toe-rail which is secured to the foot members 1 of thebrackets by bolts 15, whereby the brackets that support the dash haveadditional utility of serving as supports for said toe-rail. Byattaching the toerail to the foot bracket members, which are in turnfastened to both the side sills and the front corner-posts of thevehicle-body, said portion of the dash E, as

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toe-rail is firmly and rigidly supported, due to the manner ofattachment of the bracket foot members to the body, and as a consequenceof such arrangement force exerted against the toe-rail is nottransmitted to the corner-posts, with a result of strain thereagainst,this fact being due to the bracket foot members being rigidly held tothe side sills B.

The foot bracket members 1 consist of adjustable sections, as seen inFig. II, and these sections aresecured from movement independent of eachother by any suitable means, such as a bolt 16, that unites the parts ofthe member that preferably telescope one within the other. The advantageof this adjustable construction of the foot bracket member is that ofproviding for the application of the member to bodies of vehicles inwhich the corner-posts D vary in height, thereby necessitating the useof foot bracket members of varying lengths.

In Fig. IV I have shown a modification wherein the members 1 and 9 of mydash and toe-rail supporting brackets are made integral with each otherinstead of being in the form of separate sections. In this modificationthe configuration of the brackets is similar to the configuration of thebracketspreviously described, and the dash is removably connected to thebrackets by the bolts 10* and 13 The toe-rail 14 is secured to the footportions of the brackets in this modified form in a manner similar toits attachment to the like members as previously described.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a vehicle-body berssecured to said body and provided at their upper ends with socket-heads,and

brace "members arranged parallel with the dash and extending from ebottom of the dash to points intermediate of its bottom and top, thebrace members having stems to enter said socket-heads; and means forsecuring said stems 'in said socket-heads and the upper ends of saidbracket brace members to said dash, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a vehicle-body and its dash, of dash-supportingbrackets secured to said body and dash, and consisting of. lowersections arranged obliquely to said dash and upper sections arrangedparallel with said dash and adjustably fitted to said lower sections,and means whereby said bracket-sections are united, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination with a vehicle-body and its dash, of dash-supportingbrackets secured to said body and said dash, and consisting of sectionstelescopically fitted to each other, and means whereby saidbracket-sections are adjustably united, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with a vehicle-body and its dash, of dash-supportingbrackets secured to said body and said dash, and consisting of sectionstelescopically fitted to each other, and bolts connecting saidbracket-sections, substantially as set forth.

PHILIP E. EBRENZ.

In presence of BLANCHE HOGAN, WM. H. SooTT.

